By The length of the fasting period is most definitely the most important thing about intermittent fasting, but so is eating period. The trick is to lengthen the fasting window, and shrinking the meal one – therefore, this question goes hand in hand as they are both as important as the other
When we eat food, it’s broken down by enzymes in our gut, ending up in our bloodstream. Carbs, refined sugars and grains are broken down quickly into sugar, and our cells us this for energy. If our cells do not use this source of energy, it’s then stored in our fat cells. The volume of fat cells increase as this process accumulates. When we don’t snack between meals (or fast in other words) our insulin levels decrease and our fat cells slowly release stored sugar to be used as energy. When this is exhausted, we burn ketones. IF is the ability to let our insulin levels to decrease enough, so that we are continually burning fat stores for energy.
The way to make this lifestyle chose more sustainable, is to find a happy medium that works best for you, your lifestyle and your goals. Most people like to finish off their last meal in the evening, and eat their first one at lunch time. Others prefer to stop eating after breakfast or lunch. Both methods will increase your bodies insulin sensitivity, making it easier to burn stored fat, therefor making you a lot leaner, as well as diminishing your potential for many disease.
They key to intermittent fasting is to create a lifestyle plan that can become a long term strategy for weight loss, maintenance, as well as increasing your lifespan and stalling the ageing process. We all want to live a healthy, active and long life, if it’s going to be one that we can enjoy every minute of.
I for one, recommend fasting every single day, and leaving 1–2 days for an extended feasting window. This works well for me, because of my training goals. I have to make sure I consume enough calories and protein to increase my muscle mass – but I do want to still keep working on decreasing fat stores. This takes some time, and a bit of experimentation, but I can definitely say with most certainty, that 20 + hours fasting as regularly as possible, is my most prized and favourite method. It also provides me with some outstanding results. People wrongly assume that they cannot function or train well without food, but I can lift my most heaviest and best weight when I’ve been restricted from eating for more than 20 hours. It’s something we should all try, just to experience it, and finally put to rest the inaccurate assumption that we must consume food constantly.
You should of course, only do what feels comfortable for you. I may only give you a small piece of the puzzle, and I love IF to say that it can be adaptable for almost everyone, if they want to try something different and are willing to feel just a small amount of uncomfortable grumbling for short periods of time.
If you would like to keep in touch during your intermittent fasting journey, please do contact me on these various platforms if you need further assistance. I have plenty of other material on my blog or join me on facebook and instagram account. Please feel free to upvote this answer.
